Introduction
Nexus phone releases are timed to let Google have the last word - and what a way to have it! A phone that matches any flagship on specs and premieres the latest OS version, but costs barely half as much as some of them. The Nexus 5 promises a great finale to yet another exciting smartphone season and it’s not only the droids that stand to attention.
This could have been a deja-vu moment for everybody but the fifth gen Google phone will probably have to work harder than ever. There’s already a bunch of Snapdragon-800-powered Android flagships, while Qualcomm’s latest is ticking inside Windows Phone-powered devices by Nokia too and Apple has the new 64-bit A7 chipset.
On a second thought, Nexus phones have never been too keen on getting into the skirmish, keeping their distance, aloof and somewhat out of touch, nothing to prove to anyone. The best of Google on your homescreen - that’s what it’s all about - and at a price that’s almost too good to be true.
Key features Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support Penta-band 3G with HSPA; LTE cat3 4.95" 16M-color 1080p True HD IPS Plus FullHD capacitive touchscreen Corning Gorilla Glass 3 display protection Android OS v4.4 KitKat Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400 CPU, 2 GB RAM, Adreno 330 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset 8MP autofocus camera with LED flash, geotagging, optical image stabilization, photo sphere, 1080p video recording @ 30fps with continuous autofocus and stereo sound; HDR mode, Dual recording, optical image stabilization 1.3 MP front-facing camera 16GB/32GB of built-in storage microUSB port, USB host support, USB on-the-go, SlimPort TV-out Bluetooth v4.0 NFC Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS Standard 3.5 mm audio jack Voice commands Accele_45rometer and proximity sensor Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic 2300mAh Li-Po battery, wireless charging
Main disadvantages Non-expandable storage Poor video and audio codec support out of the box Non user-replaceable battery Comparatively poor battery life(except for calls) Loudspeaker is on the quiet side Limited availability at launch
The latest major release of Android as usual premieres on a new Nexus phone. The Nexus 5 runs Android 4.4 KitKat, which brings even tighter OS integration with Google services. There are a number of other improvements and hints at what’s to come. But before we get to that, we’ll focus on the Nexus 5’s build and Finish938844. The Android 4.4. KitKat overview will follow right after, so without further ado, see you after the break.